The Homeless Hodad

“The Homeless Hodad” is an original instrumental intended to be in a mid-1960s surf-rock, Ventures style.

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Haunted Hodads

“Haunted Hodads” is an original instrumental intended to be in a 1960s surf-rock, Ventures style.

 

When None Remain

“When None Remain” is an original instrumental intended to evoke the style of early 1960s surf-rock and the Ventures. It is a “slow dance” tune.

Hodad Hustle

“Hodad Hustle” is an original instrumental intended to be in a 1960s surf-rock/Ventures style.

The Lonely Surfer

“The Lonely Surfer” was a top-40 single and album title track in 1963 for Jack Nitzsche.  The Ventures waited until the 1990s to do an arrangement.

You may not have heard of Jack Nitzsche as a leader, but he had an enormous career in popular music.

He was a major contributor to Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound”, working as an arranger on some of Spector’s greatest productions. He played keyboards on numerous mid-1960s sessions by the Rolling Stones, and did choral arrangements for that group’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

He was involved with Neil Young recordings as producer, arranger, and keyboardist. He co-wrote the classic “Needles and Pins.” He arranged and produced for everyone from Tim Buckley, Lou Christie, the Walker Brothers, and Marianne Faithfull to the Monkees, Lesley Gore, the Neville Brothers, and Graham Parker.

And he was one of the most respected soundtrack composers of the late twentieth century, working on the scores to Performance, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Blue Collar, An Officer and a Gentleman, and The Crossing Guard.

Almost Sunrise

“Almost Sunrise” is an instrumental composed by Norman Petty, an organist and record producer who is best known for his association with Buddy Holly. Petty owned a recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico where Buddy Holly — and many other famous musicians such as Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox, and Waylon Jennings– made their records.

Due to his success with instrumental groups, Petty was a popular producer for bands of that genre and his Clovis Studio was one of the top “go-to” studios for the guitar instrumental sound in the early ’60s.

“Almost Sunrise” was a track on the Fireballs first album, also recorded in Clovis.

My arrangement is based on the Fireballs’ version.

I Venture Alone

“I Venture Alone” is another original instrumental composition in which I try to combine the feel of 60’s instrumental guitar rock with a somewhat more complex musical and harmonic language than was typical for that genre. With this one I tried to get a feel similar to an early 60’s slow dance in the style of surf rock and the Ventures.